This invention relates to an attachment for a power tool, especially a router, adapted to facilitate material working, shaping or operations, such as woodworking, and to particularly make possible the easy cutting of an end of circular cross-section on a piece of rectangular cross-section wood. Such cutting is often necessary, for example, in formation of cross or brace pieces between the legs of furniture in which a round end or tenon is tightly fitted and glued into a circular indentation or mortise in the leg of the furniture such as a chair.
Wood molding and forming operations, such as required to construct bracing members between chair legs, frequently are performed manually by skilled craftsmen. Such operations are time consuming and thus limit production output and increase the cost of articles being produced.
The present invention provides an attachment for a power tool such as an electric router which facilitates the cutting of round ends on pieces of wood of rectangular or other noncircular cross-sections. Similar operations can be conducted on articles made from other materials such as plastics using the attachment of the present invention. Circular cross-section or sculptured pieces can also be worked on with the use of the invention to provide such items with circular cross-section ends of reduced diameter. The invention provides a simple attachment for such a power tool against which the end of the piece of wood or other material to be cut can be centered and rotated by hand as the cutting element of the power tool cuts away the wood to the desired depth in a circular cross-section. The device of the present invention is easily attached or detached from the power tool which is then available for use in other cutting operations as desired.
The attachment of this invention is adapted specifically to be used with an electric router but can be adapted for use in conjunction with other rotary power tools such as an electric drill in which a cutting tool is installed.
Summarized briefly, the attachment of the present invention formed from a block of solid material adapted to be attached to the power tool adjacent the cutting element thereof, said block of solid material having a recess therein with a solid pointed metal element such as a drill bit centered in said recession, attached to the bottom thereof and protruding therefrom to form a point upon which the wood to be cut can be rotated, there being a groove or cut-away portion in said block adjacent and extending into a side of said recession to receive the cutting element of the tool.
The attachment includes the following elements: a block of rigid material, usually metal, provided with means such as threaded, tapped holes to attach the same to a router or similar power tool adjacent the cutting element thereof; the block having a recess therein, preferrably of circular cross-section; there being a thin solid metal element such as a drill bit of circular cross-section centered in said recess and attached to the bottom thereof, which element protrudes above the surface of the block to form a point upon which the wood to be cut can be rotated, and a groove or cut-away portion in said block adjacent and extending into a side of said recess to receive the cutting element of the tool.